There are urgent and compelling reasons for the development of more efficacious and safer treatments of viral and retroviral infections. It is estimated that at least one and a half million people in the United States alone have been infected with the human immunodeficiency (HIV) or AIDS virus. HIV causes a decay of a major arm of the immune system, the immune helper cells (T4 helper or CD4.sup.+ helper cells). This decay leads to a wide spectrum of diseases, generally called HIV disease, of which AIDS is the most serious and devastating form. It is anticipated that over one third of the budget for medical care in the U.S. will be consumed on HIV disease. There is an escalating incidence of other viral diseases as well. For example, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is rapidly increasing in the teenage population of the United States.
In recent years, many investigators have proposed novel treatments for combating insidious forms of disease, many involving viruses or retroviruses as the causative agents. Due to the many differences that separate these pathogens--including, for example, their structure, their method of replication and their susceptibility to or resistance to various treatment modalities--one might not expect a single method of inhibiting the development of viral and retroviral infections to be feasible. Nevertheless, such a methodology is now available, due to the unanticipated efficacy of known and novel compounds in affecting membrane fluidity, among other things.
In my practice and in my investigations, I nave noted that certain viruses and retroviruses including, for example, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes simplex virus, herpes zoster virus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Newcastle Disease virus, Semliki Forest virus, influenza viruses, pseudorabies virus, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), are of the lipid membrane variety. I have also observed that certain ubiquitous preservatives, namely, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytolulene (BHT), were reported in various sources as possessing some efficacy in treating various viral infections. (See Hendler, S., "The Complete Guide to Anti-Aging Nutrients," Simon and Schuster, New York, 1984.) For example, Cupp, et al., in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 8: 698-706 (1975) reported that the lipid-containing bacteriophage PM2 could be inactivated by BHT. Similarly, Brugh reported that BHT was effective in protecting chickens exposed to Newcastle Disease virus, in Science 197: 1291-1292 (1977).
In addition, it has been theorized that free oxygen radicals may be involved in the pathogenesis of certain viral infections (see Oda, et al., Science 244: 974-976 (1989), and that antioxidants may have an impact upon viral or retroviral infections (see Hendler, S., "The Oxygen Breakthrough," William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1989). These observations led me to investigate whether there might be substances possessing the ability to fluidize viral membranes, or otherwise affect their structures, in ways that make them less capable of infecting cells. The invention disclosed herein is not limited to or by a particular theory of operation, however.
Therefore, in response to this pervasive need for safer and more efficacious treatments of viral and retroviral infections, the present invention relates to a method for inhibiting such infections via use of known compounds with unexpected efficacy in combating viral and retroviral infections. The present invention also suggests the use of novel compounds to inhibit these infections, as well as methods for their use in living organisms.